Cumalikizik

Try pronouncing it with speed.

Not easy.

It's under UNESCO world heritage keeps and we were told it was an optional tour as our afternoon was free.

Reliance has a way of getting scot- free by offering the carrot without being responsible for it. How can one travel thousands of km and not see it?

So it's US25 each for the visit. Fortunately all of us were prepared for such surprises.

There was no regret for the brief and historical visit to the quaint centuries old village. Everything feel ancient and old as if you are brought back to times of the Ottoman empire.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. I guess the picture above speaks it all. The architecture, stones and wood (except the restored portion on the left) can actually relate to movies of that century. So, it's no wonder movies are still shot here and the natural landscape makes filming perfect.

On the cobbled lanes and passageways, tourists flocked to see the local produce and common cuisine and souvenirs.

It's dates and olives and others, all seasoned and packed for convenient consumption and sales.

We were very attempted to consume but in the end gave in to qualms.

Perhaps the first experience of snow on you makes it almost impossible to forget the place. It was freezing cold and the precipitation was in the form of snow. The girls went hysterical with the precipitate snowing on them. Esther must be hallucinating in glee. It was a ghost of a chance and therefore so unforgettable at that moment. Later, when we travelled to snow-strewn destinations, this experience must have faded from her memory.

Strolling on the hard rock; probably marble was not easy on the knees in the cold. It is true the cold does act cruelly on the knees.

The lonely dog with only a layer of fur on it could make it there.

How God works, we often wonder?

Dad was taken in by the abodes and the timber slapped in between the gaps was a good guess. What was the function of those timber? There must be several reasons for their existence. The family argued over it and in the end agreed that it was for shield and warmth.

We trudged through the hard path not complaining much as we wanted to read the story of old through the buildings.

Any lesson to learn?

I managed to have a peek at the inside of a building and saw a well in the  middle of a small square. My imagination went wild deciphering the use of the well. Providing water for consumption and wash, the place must have been a place of congregation, talks and common gatherings.
Where there is water, there is life.

The local womenfolk are into knitting and they reminded me of Emily.

But these items are of no use in hot Singapore.

Strange but true. These porcelain items must be a connection with the silk road trade here. The Chinese must have made their way here and exchanged goods. Barter trade is as old as life. Of course, you use the Lira to buy now.

It's probably 30 Lira.

Sara must be grateful too for the expedition. She was the reluctant one, complaining at the long travel and missing her fiance so terribly that we concluded that she was suffering from separation anxiety...

Tomorrow I tell you the next episode.